Cardiovascular effects of i.c.v. administration of serotonin and the 5-ht1a agonist dp-5-ct in conscious long-evans and brattleboro rats. Andrew, Ian K. Anderson, G. Ramage & Sheila M. Gardiner. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH and the Academic Department of Pharmacology Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, Rowland Hill St, Hampstead, London NW3 2PF. U.K.
APStracts 3:0141R, 1996.
The regional hemodynamic changes caused by i.c.v. 5-HT were investigated in conscious Long-Evans and Brattleboro rats with chronically implanted Doppler flow probes. In both strains a low dose of 5-HT ( 4 nmol kg-1) caused a pressor response associated with tachycardia, mesenteric vasoconstriction and a transient hindquarters vasodilatation. In Long Evans rats, higher doses of 5-HT (40 & 120 nmol kg-1) caused a pressor response, a bradycardia, mesenteric vasoconstriction and maintained hindquarters dilatation. The bradycardia and mesenteric vasoconstriction caused by 40 nmol kg-1 of 5-HT in Long-Evans rats were attenuated by d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)AVP a V1 -receptor antagonist. In Brattleboro rats the high doses of 5-HT failed to cause a pressor response but caused a delayed depressor response, a transient tachycardia, less mesenteric vasoconstriction and a larger initial hindquarters dilatation compared with Long-Evans rats. The initial part of the hindquarters vasodilator response caused by 120 nmol kg-1 of 5-HT in Brattleboro rats was attenuated by the [beta]2-adrenoceptor antagonist, ICI 118551. In Long-Evans rats, DP-5-CT (3, 30 & 100 nmol kg-1; i.c.v), a 5-HT1A receptor agonist, caused a tachycardia associated with a marked hindquarters vasodilatation. These changes were accompanied by a weak mesenteric vasoconstriction and, for the highest dose of DP-5-CT, a pressor response. These data overall are consistent with the hemodynamic effects of i.c.v. 5-HT contingent upon vasopressin release and, along with DP-5-CT, sympathoadrenal excitation; however additional mechanisms are indicated.

Received 14 March 1995; accepted in final form 26 February 1996.
APS Manuscript Number R166-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Regulatory Integrative
Comp. Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 23 April 96